Four major heart organizations issued a joint statement Jan. 28 urging the medical community to advocate for air pollution mitigation, citing the association between increased heart disease risk and air pollution.
The World Heart Federation, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and European Society of Cardiology published the statement in each of their flagship journals.
"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, air pollution was an issue of growing concern due to its impact on people's health, although it was frequently overlooked as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Michael Brauer, chair of the World Heart Federation's Air Pollution Expert Group and statement co-author. "COVID-19 has brought a new, deadly factor to the equation, and the time has come for the health community to speak up and take action."
The letter calls for rollbacks on air pollutant emissions and other harmful exposure, and encourages the medical community to take several actions such as recognizing mitigation efforts as a health measure, calling for more research on both air quality and its effect on heart disease, participating in the development of pollution guidelines and providing patients with home air filtration systems as part of their care, among others.
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